ataraxion | first case closed ♤ [ video ] ♤ filtered away from neal caffrey

[ my reputation's well set by now, neal says like it's not a big thing and peter can't lie and say it isn't. sure he had let the matter drop then only to half pick it up ( sort of ) later after a conversation with wichita. the lifts and their malfunction had stopped him from having his own conversation that drew off of what wichita has said until just a bit ago.

it bothers him more than usual to know that neal is somewhat keeping things from him. not because he wants to ( god he can't want to because, he's here and hadn't neal been so happy to see him when he came ) but because he doesn't know what he's supposed to say. he's in the dark and maybe he really has gotten involved in something that he can't even remotely get himself out of. and that sets peter on edge, because yes it was neal's own choice but peter could have pulled him back. maybe.

there's a moment on the feed where peter doesn't say anything before he smiles looking just a little tired, double checking that this is all filtered away from neal before he finds himself asking what might be a slightly complicated question for anyone to answer at home. let alone people who know a neal from before his excursion and know a neal from after. ]

I know this is probably an unorthodox question to ask, but if you could indulge me, what are your opinions on Neal Caffrey? I don't care if you're close or if you only know of him through what you've heard, I'd welcome any answers you all have. This is filtered away from him if you're worried about him barging in here acting affronted by anything you say, and I'm not likely to tell him it because it's more for my own curiosity's sake. I happen to know him from home and I was wondering what sort of impression he's left on all of you in the time he's been here.

[ because if neal's reputation is well set then they should all have the same answer. or something close to it. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Complicated. Wasn't that always the case when it came to Neal? ]

You feel like elaborating on that? To someone who knows complicated and him better than most.

How often does Caffrey keep his nose out of other people's business?

[ Answer that, Peter, and you'll get Erik's answer. Being straightforward when it came to Neal wasn't exactly something that made sense to him. ]

Depends on whose business he's putting it in. I filtered this away from him because I know he would have put his nose in all of it.

[ It's not a strictly direct answer, but it's also technically the truth, Neal does what he wants even if Peter pulls back on his metaphorical leash and says stop, so if Neal wants to stick his nose in other people's business, and really truly wants to do it, he'll stick his nose right in there. ]

Obviously.

[ The topic is on him so Erik wouldn't be surprised. It's one of those situations where he tolerates Neal for his tenaciousness, but at the same time that persistence is really annoying time and time again. ]

More like business that doesn't concern him. If his name isn't mentioned, he'll find a way to make it so.

[ Which more often ends up badly; case in point being this recent escapade with Smiley. ]

[ There's a non-committal noise that comes from Peter's end, Erik again isn't wrong, Neal has a desire to have his name out when it comes to things, but only when he wants it to be mentioned. He wouldn't have been able to send Peter on a merry chase if he had done it all the time. ]

He'll find a way to make it so unless he doesn't want to be involved in the business. Contrary to what he's probably done here, there are times when he knows not to want the attention that comes with butting into business.

[ Erik doesn't even need to tell Peter how badly Neal and his attention seeking can end. He knows way more than he would have ever liked to originally. ]

How many of those times include a life or death situation?

[ He's getting soft in his time here on the ship, to be asking about Neal's safety in such a blunt way. He knows Neal isn't himself, heard it from quite a few others, and yet it still bothers him to know that every once in a while Neal actually keeps out of things when he should. ]

[ Peter Burke is the sort of man who doesn't lie, or perhaps more accurately, because he's only human, he lies rarely and about things that are perhaps meant to shield certain people ( Neal and El really ) or those tiny little white lies everyone is prone to telling. He knows of Erik, and knows that Neal would likely never forgive him he were to say the true answer, so he settles for saying the lie, just this once. Even if Erik is asking about Neal's safety and that earns him a point or two in Peter's books, it's still not his answer to give. ]

Several. He doesn't have a death wish at home. [ It's that specific part of what Peter's saying that he knows gives away something, but if he lies, he needs to tell a truth to balance it out. ]

[ The thing is, he can’t really make out the implications of that explanation. Life and death situations were complicated as they got, and only a few people would deliberately seek them out, one of whom had been Erik up to a certain point. He’d never concede it but he did have a death wish every so often. ]

He’s different then. The choices Neal’s been making here hardly fulfill that explanation.

[ Life and death situations are simple, in Peter's mind. At least, the ones that Neal typically found himself in. Yes, there are times when they're complicated, there's no other option, and you have to go barreling into them because that's your job and that's how you have to do it, but if they're not something you have to do, not something you have to charge into. What seems complicated boils down to whether or not you want to go into the situation. Sometimes it's a good thing to do because it's moral and it protects someone or something close to that. Other times? It's just selfish and stupid. Neal, unfortunately, attracts stupid. ]

That's not exactly what I meant when I asked if he was different. I know what he's done here. All that's documented. What I meant was from the person you saw originally to the person you see nowadays, would you call them the same person. With the same personality. With no real changes.

He's still an idiot.

[ Erik says with some finality. His own opinion of the man is relatively unchanged, but despite the small things going on here and there, the overall character of Neal is still that obnoxious little worm that somehow has Erik keeping tabs on him. Still being the operative word in his sentiment, because despite the conversation going back and forth and Neal being who he was, to Erik at least, he came off as relatively unchanged. ]

first case closed ♤ [ video ] ♤ filtered away from neal caffrey

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